Giro Stage 4 Preview

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Rest day? Today’s stage sees the riders given the morning off and starts well after lunch. At 112km including eight laps around the city of Bari this looks like part group recovery-ride, part exhibition criterium.

The Route: a start on the coast sees the race head through numerous olive groves to Bitonto, once home to the 17th century mathematician Giordano who spent years trying to prove parallel lines are parallel, not as obvious as it sounds. Then to Bari, southern Italy’s second city after Napoli but the Giro hasn’t visited here since 1990. Overcompensating the race will lap the city centre eight times.

The Finish: flat and with two tight turns but the roads are reasonable. The width varies but with a circuit finish the route won’t be a surprise.

The Scenario: a bunch sprint. 100% certain? No but almost as the teams will wind up the pace so high that nobody can get away and there will no hills or junctions to surprise the bunch. This stage is surely the easiest on paper but that doesn’t mean cycle tourism. In fact many will be fresh and feisty for the sprint so we should expect plenty of chancers to play hobo with the sprint trains and the crash risk is high with rain forecast.

The Contenders: Marcel Kittel vs the rest? Yes. Two sprints, two wins and each time he’s come from a seemingly unwinnable position. His win Dublin was astonishing for the way he came from so far back to beat Ben Swift and Elia Viviani on the line. It’s been great to watch on replay but it’s a problem because he should be in the right place and finishing clear rather than fighting for every metre. As fast as he is, the result is far from a forgone conclusion so we’ll see if Elia Viviani, Nacer Bouhanni and Giacomo Nizzolo can find a way to beat Kittel. As for Ben Swift, he was close but surely tomorrow is his day?

Weather: the race might have left Ireland for the south of Italy but RCS seem to have freighted the weather over from Dublin as rain is forecast. The difference is the thermometer will reach 24°C. No wind is forecast and much of the circuit is sheltered.

TV: the race is on a variety of TV channels according to where you are in the world. Eurosport is covering the race across most of Europe. beIN SPORT has the rights in the US and France. I still haven’t seen the promised Gazzetta free stream but leave a comment below if you have to share with others. There’s cyclingfans.com and steephill.tv for TV schedules and pirate feeds and more.

The finish is forecast for 5.10pm Euro time. The urban circuit might be risky in the rain but given the probability of a sprint finish and the repetitive circuit, tune in to watch the sprint.

Tjallingii: with a flat stage without any categorised climbs Belkin’s Maarten Tjallingii is sure to keep his lead in the mountains competition for today. The Dutchman is one of the few vegetarian pro cyclists. It’s an obvious constraint but one that can be balanced by a careful diet, which is exactly what most pro cyclists must live by. He gets a special dish each day from the team chef. His diet’s obviously no problem but others find his name a mouthful. Here’s how you say it:

Are there any other known vegetarians in pro cycling? I like the idea of rooting for fellow veggies. I seem to recall David Zabriskie proclaiming himself vegan towards the end, though this didn’t prevent him from eating salmon.

I’d like to echo Jack’s sentiments. The efforts of Zabriskie and Tjallingii show that what should be an unremarkable fact might still surprise some – vegetarianism/veganism is no hindrance to elite athletic performance. As for ‘Be kind to the vegetables’, most would prefer to avoid those displaying blatant prejudice and a deep level of personal ethical insecurity.

Another day with just a few kilometers of RACING. Ho-Hum. Reading reports that teams have been forced to have duplicate staff and equipment waiting in Bari makes me wonder if anyone’s head is screwed on properly here? Economic crisis and austerity in both Ireland and Italy, yet millions of euros squandered on charter flights so the Corsa Rosa can be rained on in Ireland. Back-in-the-day the first week of Il Giro used to count for something in contrast to LeTour’s usually boring and flat first week. That’s NOT one of the features I see as leading to LeTour’s popularity – but what do I know? At least with nothing much happening until 5 PM Italian time, I can enjoy riding my own damn bike and not miss much. W Il Giro!

I doubt it is millions of euros on flights. Ireland was definitely a positive, you wouldn’t see as many roadside watchers and so much pink in Italy for three “boring” stages under the rain. Dubai would be another matter though.
The first week of the Giro never had big mountains, but also never was flat as in the Tour. This year it won’t be different, starting tomorrow.

Really? I’ve been watching the Giro for over three decades and doubt the crowds in Ireland were anything greater than in Italy, bad weather or not. I’ll admit that things like Italian cheese and wine can be exported, but EXPERIENCE and ATMOSPHERE are another thing. LeTour’s not LeTour when it’s exported to the UK (and I’ve been there for it) just like the Giro’s not the Giro when it’s in Ireland, no matter how much pink lipstick is put on the pig. I wasn’t making reference just to the costs of the flights, but the entire expenditure in times of austerity in BOTH countries. Now climbing down from soapbox

Larry, we get that you are an Italophile ( is that a word ?), but you are in danger of being labelled a curmudgeon. The history of cycling is littered with once great races that failed to adapt or innovate eg. Paris Tours, Paris Brest Paris etc, I am sure there are Italian examples as well. IMO , the Giro in Ireland was a brilliant move to capitalize on the historic Roche triple crown from back in the day while the son and nephew are still relevant players in the sport. Plus, the pink sheep were feckin awesome ! It might just jump start the Tour of Ireland as well, though it hurts my brain to have any Mcquaid involved at at any level at all.

An excellent book along these lines is ‘Soccernomics’, published by the Guardian UK. Some great commentary and facts about the waste of money involved in hosting major events like tbe World Cup and Olympics, blowing the arguments out of the water from organisers, etc. Anyone involved in the Grand Depart in Ireland would not want to read it.

RCS chartered 3 flights to Bari, one being a cargo plane. This took all riders, team staff, etc. but left 600 staff (locals). Team buses etc. drive to Italy. Teams will need to go to the nest stage in Bari via their service course to collect items not taken to Ireland.

Huge spectator turnout, leading to more eyes on advertising, inbound travel pickup, etc. No riders died. My opinion is that this was actually a success, but then I clearly use different KPI’s..

Where is Kittel’s lead out train? Did the team not bother to bring his usual “train” members because Kittel is expected to abandon at the start of the mountain stages, so as to keep them in reserve nice and fresh for the TdF? Or perhaps they didn’t give him a train because he obviously doesn’t need one to win.

They’re in ToC as well. Sheez, if the TDU cops criticism then surely the Tour of California should be for being an irrelevant expensive waste of time that detracts from the Giro… At least the TDU is good training, what’s the ToC’s excuse for living?

Disappointing, although it does give me some respect for Giant-Shimano management/DS and team physicians; they could have told him to ‘suck it up’ but racing with a fever could have serious health consequences.

What the hell is wrong with modern riders, a little rain and they decide take it easy in case they slid out. The commissars need to get a grip and tell the lazy useless buggers to race or be DQd.
I am sure others will disagree, but really, this is not a sporting spectacle at any level.

Err, 23 year old in just his 2nd GT, not a GC candidate. Not egalitarian, misplaced. Before you get your nickers completely twisted tell me what experience he can add, compared to say Petacchi or Kreuziger?